A Study on the Performance of Breast One-Stop Clinic in Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Objectives: To evaluate the breast One-Stop Clinic (OSC) performance in Queen Elizabeth Hospital from December 2011 to November 2012. Methods: Patient attendances and clinical data were retrieved from the hospital computer database. Data of patients attending the OSC (the OSC group) were compared with those of a control group attending the regular surgical breast clinic (the non-OSC group). Binary logistic regression was performed to determine the association between a short symptom-to-operation time (within 6 weeks) and the type of clinic attended (OSC or non-OSC), adjusting for patient's age, symptomatology, and history of contralateral breast cancer. Statistical significance was set at 5%. Results: A total of 850 patient attendances were reviewed. Cancer detection rates for the OSC and non-OSC groups were 42.7% and 12.1%, respectively. The proportions of patients with a short symptom-to-operation time in the OSC and non-OSC groups were 12.4% and 3.4%, respectively. The OSC group was 22 times more likely to have a short symptom-to-operation time than the non-OSC group (p < 0.05), independent of age, symptomatology, and history of contralateral breast cancer. Conclusion: The OSC is an effective clinical pathway to identify symptomatic patients for timely operation.